The influence of an exothermic reaction on the spatial distribution of the liquid phase in a trickle bed reactor: Direct evidence provided by NMR imaging

In this paper, NMR imaging was applied to study the distribution of the liquid phase in a fixed catalyst bed of an operating multiphase reactor with a cocurrent gas–liquid flow under conditions when the heterogeneous catalytic hydrogenation of 1-octene was taking place in the reactor. The 2D maps of the spatial distribution of the external and internal liquid holdups in the various regimes of the catalyst bed operation have been obtained for the first time in the course of the reaction. It was shown by a direct in situ method that an exothermic reaction taking place in a trickle bed reactor dramatically affected the distribution of the liquid phase in the catalyst bed. In particular, in the presence of the reaction, the catalyst bed was characterized by a non-uniform distribution of the liquid phase, as revealed by evaluating the external and internal liquid holdups. In the absence of the reaction, the bed was largely filled with the liquid phase.

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► NMR imaging to study liquid phase distribution in operating catalyst bed.
► 2D external and internal liquid holdup maps during reaction.
► Exothermic reaction in trickle bed affected liquid phase distribution.
► During reaction catalyst bed characterized by non-uniform liquid phase distribution.
► Without reaction bed largely filled with liquid phase.